The Connection
by AshlynCouslandTheirin
Summary: An exploration of how the TARDIS and telepathy might work, told from the point of view of Alexandra Harper, and through her adventures with the Doctor. Updated once to twice a week. Please note this is NOT a Doctor and OC romance.
1. Lonely Then

A/N: **This is important!** At the moment, I only have _one arc_ for this story that I am definitely going to write. But, if you guys like it, I have _two more_ I am happy to do. I'll need you guys to tell me if you want to see those! I understand if you won't be sure until the end of this arc, but if you know beforehand, it'd be super helpful :) I'll tell you the titles of all 3 parts at the end of this chapter and if you already think you'd like to see more, please let me know!

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><p>"Mommy, can I please have a story?"<p>

The mother looked down at her young daughter lying in bed with an exasperated, if amused, smile. "It's awfully late sweetie. Are you sure you don't just want to get to sleep?"

The little girl shook her head fervently.

Gazing down at her daughter's pleading eyes and hopeful expression, the woman felt her heart melt and sank into the chair beside her bed with a mock sigh. "Alright, alright, you win." She scooted about a bit, getting comfortable, as the girl nestled herself deeper into her covers, a happy grin lighting her face. "Lets see"…the woman said after a moment. "Have I told you the story of the abandoned planet?"

The woman's daughter nodded. "Uh huh!"

"Oh. Well…how about the Slave King?"

"You told me that one too mommy," the girl said, pouting a little.

"I did? Huh…I know, I'll tell you the one about the Lost Wolf. You see, there was this man -"

_"Momma."_

"Ah. Told you that one too, have I?" the little girl nodded gloomily. The mother deliberated for another few moments before a wistful, almost apprehensive look stole over her features. "…Okay. This one I know I haven't told you. It doesn't have a name, and it's pretty long…you sure you want to hear it?"

The girl nodded enthusiastically, her eyes wide and curious.

"Alright," the woman said. She closed her eyes for a moment and began.

"A long time ago, in a place…very far from here, there was a girl. A woman. Who was very lonely.

"You see, she was born different from most people. She couldn't explain why, or how, but she was not like everyone around her. As a young child, she was never able to make friends, and even her family had a distance she couldn't understand. And as she grew older, nothing changed. To her, it seemed like everyone else in the world had something she didn't, some connection that was lost to her. And it made her lonely.

"She told herself, however, that she preferred it that way. She figured, if she didn't admit to herself she was lonely, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. But it still hurt her. She was alone her entire life…

"Until one day she wasn't."

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><p>Alexandra Harper unlocked the door to her shop with a small sigh. Not one of depression, or even contentment…weariness perhaps? She wasn't sure. She sighed so often. She contemplated this as she walked to the desk in the center of her shop and dropped her purse into the cupboard beneath it. People sighed so many times in a single day, and it portrayed so many different emotions, sadness, relief, frustration…what an odd way of expressing one's feelings.<p>

Alex sighed once more when she realized she was thinking about something so silly and then lightly chuckled to herself at the irony. She turned on the old computer and went to the small supply closet in the back to grab a broom while it booted up.

She had just gone back outside to sweep in front of the entrance when she heard the strangest sound. It was an odd, wheezing, groaning sound, almost like metal grating against concrete. The wind blew, and the sound grew louder…and then very suddenly stopped. Alex glanced down both sides of the street, seeing nothing. She considered investigating for a moment, but in the end decided against it. She just wanted to get to work.

Quickly finishing her cleanup, Alex retreated into the store, preparing for the usual uneventful day. Most of her business came in on the weekends, and even on a weekday like this, not until the afternoon. She let her employees take care of that. Her computer had finally booted up she noticed; it really was quite old. Of course, her banging on it to make it work when it glitched probably didn't help. Grimacing to herself, Alex began looking through the few online orders she had received, toying with the idea of buying a new one.

The bell that signaled the front door opening sounded, and without looking up Alex said "Welcome to The Bookworm, let me know if there's anything I can help you with." She noted idly that her usual customers rarely came in this early. The sun was only barely above the horizon. They were probably just –

"Oh I'm just having a look, thanks."

Exactly.

Sighing quietly once more she continued sifting through her orders and e-mails, not really seeing them. She really just wanted to go back home and sleep a while longer. She didn't know why she opened the store so early anyway - was it even worth it? Right now she could be snuggled in her warm bed, dozing, listening to the sound of her cat beeping…

Beeping?

Alex looked up, wondering what was causing a steady, low pitched beeping sound in her shop. The customer was not in sight, apparently moving through the aisles between the shelves. The beeping sound was moving as well, so Alex assumed it was coming from him. She slowly rose from her chair and moved around her desk, heading towards the source of the beeping.

She moved in between two tall bookshelves, but the man wasn't there. The beeping was definitely close though – and the time between each of them was shortening. She moved slowly through the aisle, hearing the sound grow faster. She reached the end of the aisle. The beeping was incredibly loud now, and going at a frantic pace.

She took a deep breath, and silently counted to herself before turning the corner to the next aisle. _1…2…3!_

"Ahh!"

"Ahh!"

Alex had bumped into another person and then stumbled backwards, surprised. The man in front of her had done the same. She looked up and examined the stranger.

He was a tall, skinny man with disheveled brown hair wearing a pinstriped suit. He had a long brown coat over it and held a strange device in his hands that looked suspiciously like a toaster with some sort of screen attached to it and a long radio wire sticking out of it. That was where the beeping was coming from, Alex noted. The man currently had a bemused expression on his face that she was sure resembled her own.

Alex blinked a couple of times feeling the rush of adrenaline pour out of her body leaving her hands and feet tingling for a moment. Finally finding her voice she said:

"I…Who are you? And what's that…thing?"

Well that sounded smart.

"I think the better question," the man said, putting the strange device in his pocket – _how did he fit that in there?! _– and pulling something else out from his jacket. "Is who are you?" The item he'd pulled out looked like a metal wand with one end glowing blue and buzzing. He waved it up and down in front of her. "_What_ are you?"

He moved the little wand in front of her face and the glowing end of it hurt her eyes. Swatting at it like an annoying bug she stuttered "Get-get that out of my face!"

The man huffed and put the device back in his jacket, pulling out the toaster-hybrid thing again. He pointed it towards her and muttered irritably at it. "…working just a second ago…could've happened to the signal…" The man scowled down at the device and banged on it with his fist, which apparently did nothing as he continued muttering angrily at it.

Alex sighed at him and crossed her arms. "What do you mean _what_ am I? And this happens to be my store so you'd better tell me what that thing is." A horrible thought struck her. "It's not a bomb is it?"

_ Great one Alex. A bomber would be more than happy to tell you they were holding a-_

"What? No." The man finally addressed her directly looking up at her flabbergasted. "It's a scanner." His tone made it sound like that should have been completely obvious.

Alex glanced at the device that he held up for her inspection dubiously. "Looks like a toaster to me."

"It's not a toaster!" he exclaimed in an offended manner. "Well…It _was._ But now it's a scanner!" The man grinned like this was some great feat.

"Uh huh," Alex replied. "A scanner for what?"

"Telepathic signals," the man said, returning his gaze to the screen attached to the not-a-toaster. "Signals that it was picking up from you just a moment ago – a ha!" The man grinned again as the device resumed its beeping, but then his smile abruptly dropped. "No…not from you…"

"What do you mean?" The man was a nut, she was sure, but she figured if she played along maybe he would leave the store and she could get back to her normal day. She began wondering if she could convince the man that his "signals" were coming from outside.

The man looked over her shoulder, but when she glanced she could see the shelves were blocking his view. "Is there anyone else in your store?" he asked.

"No, you were my first customer…why?" she looked at the strange toaster-thing, which was no longer directed at her but towards the shelves, behind her.

"Stay behind me," he said, putting the scanner in his pocket – the impossibility of that struck her once more – and retrieving the little metal wand he'd blinded her with earlier. She did as he said, keeping a step behind him as they crept towards the next aisle.

Despite knowing that the man was a loon a daunting feeling came over her. What if someone else really was in the store? The door had been locked when she'd arrived…hadn't it? Yes, she was sure it had been. So unless someone had broken in…

Alex swallowed nervously as they reached the edge of the shelf. Another step and they would be visible to anyone in the next aisle. The man shared a glance with her and flipped a switch on the metal device, causing it to start buzzing. He waited another beat then quickly stepped out into the aisle, pointing the little device threateningly. "Don't move!" From Alex's viewpoint, all she could see was him, so she watched the expressions that crossed his face. After the initial anticipation, a look of confusion came over him, and he lowered the metal wand slightly. "…Hello?"

Curious, Alex poked her head around the corner to see who was there. Surprised, her eyebrows shot up. "Brian?"

One of her employees – the first one she'd hired in fact – was standing in between the bookshelves, staring blankly at the books.

"You know him?" The man asked, lowering his arm completely as she stepped towards the boy.

"Yeah, he's one of my workers…Brian? Brian, are you okay?" Alex examined the teenager curiously as he continued not reacting to the two of them. If she didn't see his chest moving she would have wondered if he were somehow dead. She was just raising her hand to nudge his shoulder when the man moved forward and pushed it back down.

"I wouldn't do that." He began waving the little wand in front of the man, looking at him with a furrowed brow.

"What do you think is wrong with him?"

"There are practically no neural pathways active in his brain," the man said absent-mindedly. She wasn't sure if he was responding to her or merely talking to himself. "Only basic functions are still running."

Alex gave the man a curious glance. "Are you a doctor?"

The man looked at her and gave her an odd grin. "Yes, actually!"

"Well Doctor…don't you think we should call an ambulance?" Alex wasn't sure herself – something was obviously wrong, but it didn't really feel like a medical emergency. But this man seemed to know what he was talking about. Maybe.

"Ah, no. No that's definitely a bad idea."

"Why?"

The Doctor bent down in front of Brian, whipping a pair of glasses out of who-knew-where and putting them on. He peered into the young man's eyes as he spoke. "Because human doctors won't understand what's happening to him. They'll just poke and prod at him – might get themselves and Brian killed."

Alex huffed, wanting a full explanation already. "What on Earth are you talking about?"

The Doctor rose and turned to her, putting his hands in his pockets. "Brian's got an alien in his head."

Alex stared at him.

The Doctor stared back.

After a few moments he said "…You're thinking I'm a nutter right now, aren't you."

"Yep."

"I can prove it."

"Really," Alex drawled sarcastically. "How's that?"

"Look at Brian."

Alex glanced towards her employee and her eyes widened. The young man was looking right at her. "Brian?"

The boy blinked once before saying: "Motor functions accessed. Fully integrated."

Brian gave her a cursory up and down glance. "You are a suitable host. You will be taken to the Nest Ship immediately. Resistance is futile."

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><p>AN: So glad I got this written. :) I hope you guys like this so far. I feel like I started off kind of rocky, so I might come back and edit this later…Oh and if you can tell me where that last quote comes from I'll give you a one-thousand word or less oneshot. No cheating!

Here are the titles for all three possible arcs:

Part 1: The Connection

Part 2: The Lost Wolf (I'm sure you can guess a bit of what happens here)

Part 3: Belonging

Happy reading! :)


	2. Lonelier Now

A/N: On to chapter 2. Again, please, please tell me immediately if you guys want to see the other story arcs – whether it is just one or both. I'm about two chapters ahead of where you guys are, so I'd like to know before I start writing part two whether or not I even should. This story is probably gonna be about ten chapters long, maybe a little longer. The others should each be even longer. Anyway, enjoy!

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><p>"<em>Resistance is futile."<em>

Alex stared at Brian, confused. "What…what are you talking about? What's going on, Brian?"

"He isn't Brian anymore," the Doctor said quietly.

"What are you talking about, he's-!"

"Cease communication immediately," the boy interrupted. "You will be taken to the Nesting Ship."

Alex gazed at him for a moment longer before saying "Brian…I'm not going with you anywhere. You need to see a doctor." She glanced at the man beside her who gave her a little smile.

Brian blinked once. "Then you will be incapacitated."

The young man raised his arm – to strike her, to grab her, she wasn't sure, because before she could do anything the Doctor grabbed him and pressed his small metal device to the boy's temple and he collapsed in the Doctor's arms. He slung the boy over his shoulder and began running towards the door.

Alex stared after him for a moment, unsure what she should do. "Wait – what – where are you going?!" Jumping into action she raced after the Doctor, glad he had Brian or he would be too far ahead for her to catch up.

"My ship!" The Doctor answered as they raced out of the store and down the street. "That shock only disoriented him – he'll be conscious again soon unless I immobilize him." The Doctor suddenly turned down an alleyway and Alex almost tripped over herself trying to turn in time. "And, if we're very, very lucky," the Doctor continued, his breath labored. "We'll be able to save your friend before the creature takes over his neural pathways completely."

"He's not my friend," Alex clarified. "And what happens then?"

They finally came to a stop in front of a blue door and the Doctor gave her a meaningful look as an answer to her question. After the look of horrified understanding came over her face, the Doctor turned and opened the door. Alex took in what she saw and realized the door was actually part of a large blue police box. The alleyway dipped way in – it looked there had been dumpsters there at one point – and the box was right in the middle of it. She took this all in without really registering it and walked in right after the Doctor.

She hadn't taken two steps in however before she suddenly stopped in her tracks. She stared at her surroundings for a moment before walking backwards and right back out.

Alex stared at the blue box, then walked around it, waving her arms, looking for wires, or mirrors, or…_something._ She didn't find a thing. Returning to the front of the box she stared at the door for a moment before stepping inside again.

The room was _huge._ It was round rather than the rectangular shape of the outside and had odd hexagonal shapes in the walls. There were also large coral-looking columns stretching to the ceiling. What really drew her attention however – well besides the impossibility of the size of the room – was the large machine in the center of the room. There was some sort of round system at the bottom with buttons and levers scattered across it. She couldn't guess at their function. Rising from this was some sort of tube that again bewildered her.

_What is this place…?_

Scanning the room her eyes landed on the doorway at the other end of the room, where the Doctor was leaning, hands in his pockets, watching her. She was immediately reminded of why she'd chased him in here.

"Brian?"

"Sedated in the medical bay. He'll be alright. Just running some scans right now." He paused for a moment. "What do you think?"

Gathering he was no longer referring to her employee, Alex took another glance around the room. "…Bigger on the inside?"

"Yep."

She paused for another moment to take it all in before turning to him with a serious expression. "…This is completely wicked."

The Doctor grinned at her and she couldn't help smiling back. "So what is this?"

"My ship!" he said, moving to the machine and quickly manipulating the buttons and levers. Alex started when the tube made a strange whooshing sound and glowed. She was pretty sure she heard the Doctor chuckle at her but he'd ducked out of her view before she could check. "It's called the TARDIS, which stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space. It allows me to travel anywhere and anywhen in the universe that I want." He finished with another grin standing in front of her.

Alex took a steadying breath. "So…you're from the future?"

"No. Well, yes. Sort of." At her confused look the Doctor tugged on his ear and tried to explain. "Time and space are connected.* It's not really something most humans understand. I'm not from Earth you see."

Alex's eyebrows shot up. "You're an alien?"

"Yep," he popped the "p" and watched her with an almost grim expression.

Alex glanced around for a few moments before finally replying. "Oh. Well…That explains a lot." She gave him a curious look. "Do most aliens look like humans? Er, or the other way around, I guess?"

"No, only a few. Well, quite a lot from your point of view I suppose. But really, with the infinite possibilities in time and space…do you really think all the different species out there would look the same?"

Alex gave a wry smile. "No, I guess not." She then nodded at the machine in the center of the room. "What is that?"

"Ah, that's the console. I control and fly the ship from there."

"Okay," Alex said, a little overwhelmed. She took another breath before asking him only half sarcastically "Is this the part where you disintegrate me because I know too much?"

The Doctor laughed out loud. "Of course not. If you'd like actually, we could go see Brian now. Those scans should be about done."

Alex nodded. "That sounds good."

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><p>After walking through a maze of corridors that Alex knew she'd never remember, they ended up in the medical bay. She'd expected this room to be as strange as the console room, but it was surprisingly like most doctors' offices. The walls were white, the floors tile, and it had that almost annoyingly clean smell. There were three separate beds, Brian lying on the one closest to the door, and familiar equipment near each one of them. Screens were hanging above each one as well, though Brian's were the only ones turned on at the moment, showing different kinds of scans. She supposed there could be some alien technology going on there, but she didn't understand any of them to begin with.<p>

The Doctor went and stood on the far side of the bed, pressing buttons on the wall behind Brian. Alex stood on the opposite side, watching the screens flick between different views, still not fathoming any of it.

"So…what's going on? You said there was an alien inside of him?" She frowned as she said the words. It just sounded so ridiculous.**

"Yep," the Doctor replied, popping the "p." He was now holding down a button that rose the bed up a ways. "It's called a Limaxian," He now bent down slightly, peering at Brian's ear. "Their own planet was destroyed, so they travel from planet to planet looking for suitable 'hosts.'" He now pointed the sonic screwdriver – he'd told her the name in the hall when she'd inquired – at the boy's head, shaking it once to make it cooperate. "Once they find a good host, they bring it up to their ship, insert one of their kind inside, and put them back on the planet to look for more host bodies. Usually takes them a little while to get full control of the body, depending on how complex the species is, so often times you'll find them just standing about like Brian here was."

The Doctor now whirled to the other side of the bed to do the same to Brian's other ear, Alex quickly jumping out of the way. "So they're just gonna keep going until they take everyone?"

"Er, no. Over time their species has been dying out – you can only live so long in space – and each species they've found so far has either found them out and killed them off or their bodies haven't been able to withstand having the Limaxians inside them and it killed the host, which in turn would kill the Limax. Since there are so few of them left, they're going to ah, create _more._ Which will probably greatly outnumber humans. So they'll probably keep quite a few around to…farm."

"Oh, _ew._"

"But, I'm not going to let any of that happen now," the man continued, and looked up with a grin. "The Doctor is in."

Alex rolled her eyes and asked: "What do they look like anyway?"

"Well," the Doctor began, then suddenly stepped back as something fell from the vicinity of Brian's head to the ground with a wet _smack!_ "…Rather like that."

It was an ugly, yellowish thing that reminded Alex of a slug. It was also very slimy and was about the size of her thumb.

Equally disgusted and fascinated, Alex leaned forward, staring at the creature. "So that's the Limo – Limer – what'd you call it?"

"A Limax," the Doctor replied, gently nudging her shoulder so she would back away. He bent down and set a jar with a lid on the ground next to the Limax; Alex wondered absently if he'd gotten it from somewhere in the room or if it was one of the many things he kept in his apparently infinite pockets. Carefully, he used what she thought might be a tongue depressor to lift the slug-like alien from the ground and deposit it into the jar.

"Is it dead?"

"No. Just in shock," the Doctor replied smoothly, twisting the lid onto the jar. She noticed then that there was liquid inside. "If they're not inside of a host or their natural environment they will die eventually, but they have a few minutes at least. Sort of like a human running out of oxygen. Uncomfortable, but if you get air soon enough you'll be fine." As he said this he placed the jar on one of the countertops before turning back and eyeing Brian. "Now, what to do about your friend."

"My employee," she corrected. He gave her an odd look that she chose to ignore. "Is he going to remember any of this?"

"Probably not. His conscious mind will have been suppressed. If he has any memories they'll be hazy, like a dream."

"But won't he be confused when he wakes up here?"

"Oh, I'm gonna keep him sedated for now. Run a few more tests just to be sure there's been no damage to his systems, then we can take him home, drop him off in bed and he'll forget the whole thing," he finished with a smile.

"Oh. Good then. That's…good." Alex glanced down at Brian, half of her wishing he would remember. She knew it was probably better for him not to – she could only imagine what it would be like knowing your body had been taken and controlled by a _slug_ – but still…she'd never be able to talk to anyone about all that had happened.

A sudden thought occurred to her. "What about the rest of the – the Limaxians?"

Without looking at her, the Doctor returned to the wall of monitors behind Brian, pressing buttons and switching dials; presumably, running more scans. "I'll give them a chance to leave on their own," he said simply.

"And if they don't?" Alex felt it was necessary to ask.

He paused in his actions, glanced down, then finally looked up at her. She wouldn't say his expression was dark, or even particularly threatening, but somehow the look he gave her made her realize this man was powerful. He'd said he was going to stop the Limaxians, and he definitely had the ability to do it. In that short look they exchanged, she knew this man could fell an army.

He abruptly cut off the odd moment, turning away. "Well, you don't want to know about that. You won't even know it's happening! I'll drop you and Brian back into your normal humany lives, you can keep running your bookstore, and never have to think about us aliens again. Everybody wins!" He finished this off with another grin in her direction.

Alex blinked at this. Going back to work after all this felt…odd. Her entire world had just been turned upside down. She was supposed to just go back? Like nothing had ever happened? How was she supposed to pretend there wasn't some strange man who called himself the Doctor out there fighting to save her entire planet while she was sitting there doing inventory? Of course, she didn't know what else she expected. Just because she now knew about the existence of aliens didn't change anything. And she wanted to go back to her normal life. Really. She enjoyed her job, her solitude, and her nice big apartment.

…Didn't she?

She opened her mouth to say something to the Doctor; whether it was to voice her concerns, ask him to take her home, or even see if she could somehow stay and help she didn't know, as the words never left her mouth. An alarm suddenly sounded throughout the TARDIS, loud and blaring, making both her and the Doctor look up (though he didn't jump a foot in the air the way she did.)

After a couple of moments the alarm went silent, though Alex's ears still rang with it's echoes. She looked at the man beside her curiously, who was still glancing around the ceiling, where the sounds had been coming from some kind of speaker. After another few moments of stillness the Doctor muttered "…Well that can't be good," and suddenly took off down the corridor. Alex gave one last glance at Brian before taking off after the man.

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><p>*I'm going to go into this later. A lot of stuff like this. As stated in the summary, this will be an exploration of what I imagine telepathy is like, the workings of the TARDIS, and how the universe itself works. But there's no reason not to have fun with it. If you're only in to this for the adventure, you'll still enjoy the story, no worries.<p>

**It really does. Is this idea totally stupid guys? D:

I'm going to bring something to your attention, fangirls – and fanboys - of David Tennant, if you haven't noticed it already. Go watch a few episodes of DW with him, and watch his mouth. This man's tongue is all over the place. And it will drive you _nuts._

Special thanks to LuckyBuzzie for your review! You're amazing!

Happy reading! :)


	3. A Hand to Hold?

A/N: Ever so slight change of plans, this story will now be at least fifteen chapters. In between each adventure Alex has with The Doctor, there's going to be a little interlude chapter. And I want each adventure to be at least three chapters if not more. So four adventures planned out! Like I said, ever so slight change.

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><p>Alex ran after the Doctor, afraid that she wouldn't be able to keep up with him and would end up lost in the halls of the TARDIS. It got to the point where she was only seeing the edge of his coat dashing around a corner, then merely following the sound of his footsteps, and finally, he was gone. Alex slowed to a stop, breathing heavily, looking around.<p>

Nothing looked familiar, and she hadn't thought to memorize the turns they were taking when walking to the medical bay. She glanced behind herself, wondering if she could find her way back to it, but decided against it. She didn't want to get herself even more lost. _Should I just wait here…?_ She wondered. _Surely he'll come looking for me…_

Alex frowned to herself. Would he? She hardly knew this man, and he seemed to be pretty easily distracted. A sudden vision of her wandering the apparently endless halls of this place forever flitted through her mind and she irritably batted it away. She would _not_ send herself into a panic.

The girl took a deep breath, clearing her mind, and looked around once more. She'd figure this out. Either how to get to the medical bay or the console room – it didn't matter. _Something_ had to ring a bell.

She decided to take a chance and take the next left, hoping that she'd recognize something down that hallway. If not, she'd just check the right one as well. She'd only taken a few steps in the left corridor when a sense of immediate rightness filled her. It wasn't so much that she recognized anything specific, but she _knew_ she was going the right way. A smile broke out on her face and she confidently strode down the hallway. She also felt a tug towards the next right and decided she would just "follow her feet."

Alex did just that, and with a triumphant little grin, she made it back to the console room, where the doctor was twisting dials and pressing buttons. He didn't seem to have even noticed she was missing. The feeling that had been guiding her faded and she stepped up to the console, only to immediately jump back as he dashed around it, pulling levers and such.

"So…what was the alarm about?"

He glanced up after a moment, as though surprised to hear a voice, then turned back to the console. "Someone locked onto us, tried to pull the TARDIS to them. Hold that button there," he said, pointing to a large blue one. She darted forward and did just that, a little surprised he'd asked her to. "_Must_ have been the Limaxians," he continued, pulling a lever that made the whole ship lurch for a moment. "But! They wouldn't try and capture us if we had just _anybody._ That's not the way they work! Wouldn't matter if they lost a meager foot soldier, no! Which means…" as he said all this he was going around the console, commanding the TARDIS to do who-knew-what, and by the end of it he came full circle and to the opposite side of her, and leaned in very close. *In a conspiratorial voice, he finished "We've got someone important," this was accompanied with a waggle of his eyebrows for emphasis, and Alex couldn't help a little snort, making him grin. His eyes flicked to her hand still on the blue button. "Oh, you can let go of that now. Come here!" He grabbed her wrist and pulled her over to the screen hanging down by the console, and, after banging on it once or twice, it began to flicker.

"What's going on?" Alex asked.

"I'm contacting the Limaxians."

"What? Why?!" she gave him a horrified look.

"No one tries to take my ship," there was a dark look on his face before he continued. "She's much -"

But he was cut off by the screen finally showing an actual picture. It took a few moments for Alex to believe what she was seeing.

She'd stupidly expected to see another one of the Limaxians in their basic slug form, like the one that had come out of Brian. But, of course, it had taken over the body of a human. This time, it was a human _child._

A little girl with blonde pigtails and large blue eyes stared out at them, and eerily emotionless expression on her face. Alex inhaled sharply, shocked. A quick glance showed the Doctor's face hardening, but nothing else.

"State your identity," the girl – the _Limax_ – said in a robotic tone. It sounded so strange from such a small child's mouth.

"The Doctor." Alex shivered at the darkness in his voice. It reminded her of the look he'd given her earlier.

"Doctor," the Limax blinked once, in a slow, odd way. "You will surrender our general. You and the female will then be taken to the Nest ship and used as hosts."

Alex and the Doctor shared a look. It was a general? "I'll give you back your general," the Doctor said, making Alex raise her eyebrows. "But I can't allow you to use the people of this planet as hosts. You _have_ to give them back. I'll help you find a planet where you can survive, but -"

"We have chosen this planet," the Limax cut him off. "I repeat myself. You will surrender our general. You and the female -"

"This is your one chance," the Doctor said. "I won't ask again."

There was silence for a long moment.

"Your compliance is not necessary," the Limax said. "You have one hour to return our General. You and the female will then-"

The Doctor abruptly soniced the screen, and it flickered to black. "Boring conversation anyway," he said turning away. Alex rolled her eyes at the reference.**

He sighed and leaned his hands against the console, obviously deep in thought. Unsure what to say, Alex stood awkwardly, hesitating.

"Is um…is there anything I can do?"

"I need to get all of the infected humans in London free in under an hour," he said, eyes closing.

"Just London?"

"For the moment it seems to be focused there. They're probably testing to see how quickly they can do it, and if they can keep themselves hidden easily. They'll spread out soon."

"Couldn't you just free them like you did Brian?"

"Sure, if I had more time maybe," he said, turning and leaning back against the console now. "But as it is, we have an hour. And even if I did have more time I would just be pushing them back. They'd keep going, probably before I freed more than a few." His foot bounced like he was full of energy that he couldn't quite figure out how to exert.

Alex tilted her head, thinking.

"What exactly was it you did to Brian?"

He waved his hand. "You wouldn't understand."

Annoyance flared, but she pushed it down. "Tell me anyway. Maybe talking it out will help."

He pushed off the console and began pacing, hands waving about as he talked. "I pushed a signal into his brain, a sound wave. Have you seen how sound waves can move objects, or make them seem to levitate? By pushing a strong enough one at the Limax at the right frequency it basically forced him out. The particular frequency doesn't affect humans – its too high for you to even hear – so it's the best way to get rid of them." He ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. "I need a way to get the signal to all of them at once."

Alex raised her eyebrows. "The ship can contact other ships, right?" she asked, recalling the conversation with the Limaxians.

"Yes," he said, waving a hand again, still frustrated.

"So if you can send signals to other ships, could you maybe send one to a satellite?"

He looked up. "Well, _yes_, but unless they have a way to receive it, that won't help."  
>"What about cellphones?" she asked. "I mean, I guess there's no way to tell if <em>everyone<em> in London they've taken has one, but probably at least most of them right? And then maybe-"

The Doctor had been staring throughout her explanation but now suddenly bounced in front of her, reaching her conclusion ahead of time. He shook her shoulders with a grin, exclaiming "You are _brilliant!" _

Alex was still stiff from the surprise of his grabbing at her when he rushed around the console pressing buttons and pulling levers. He told her to press a button again – a square yellow one this time – and to repeatedly hit a red one that was just far enough away to make her have to stretch. After a minute or two of this he allowed her to stop and jogged over to the monitor, which she now noticed had what looked like a small speaker – or maybe a microphone – in the bottom right corner. He pressed the screwdriver to it, the blue end glowing, and…she heard nothing. The frequency was too high. The room did almost seem to pulse however, and on the monitor there was a bird's eye view of London, with little red dots all over it. And as the screwdriver continued to glow, the red dots slowly blinked out, one by one, until the city was clear.

Alex stared at the screen in amazement while the Doctor gave a shout of triumph. He raced around the console again, pressing buttons, when another thought occurred to her.

"What about the humans on their ship?

"I'm already on it!" he called. Zipping back to the monitor he pressed the screwdriver to the microphone again. "All I have to do is use the signal _they_ used a minute ago to access their communications, put this frequency through their speakers…" he pushed away from the monitor and went back to press a few buttons. "Then use the other signal they used to try and transport the TARDIS, to get access to their transportation functions, lock on to the humans, and…" he pulled a lever decisively, shooting a grin at her. "Transport them back to Earth!"

Quizzically, she asked "Where on Earth do they end up?"

"Right where they were taken from!" he said happily, putting his hands in his pockets and rocking onto the balls of his feet. "I used the coordinates they used to put them back where they belong. They gave me everything I needed without even realizing it!" he then paused and gave her a look she couldn't quite identify. It was a good one though, she thought. "Except for the bit about the cell phones. That was all you." He paused once more before saying "Thank you."

She still had one more question. "But what if there was a human they took who _didn't_ have a cell phone? Won't they still have a Limax in their head?"

"Well, if you take a look at my handy-dandy monitor here," he said gently pulling her back over to it. The screen had once again switched, making her wonder exactly what made it do so, and there was now an image of what must be the Limaxian's ship. It was a large, clunky, brown thing that made her think of junk cars. There were also a number of red dots that suddenly increased by about ten.

"…You'll see that they're pulling what few Limaxians are left back to their ship. We scared them off!" he shot her another grin, but they both paused and looked up when the monitor switched to static.

A voice came over the intercom then, growly and completely at odds with the little girl's voice they had heard earlier. "You have not seen the last of us, Doctor."

With that, the monitor switched back to the image of the ship, and it turned to zip off into the blackness of space, stretching out and disappearing in a flash, reminding Alex of the warp drive on Star Trek.

There was a brief silence between them.

"Well," Alex said after a moment. "That was…exciting."

The Doctor chuckled. "That's one word for it."

"So what now?" she asked.

"Well, first thing's first," he replied. "I think its time your employee got himself home and in bed, don't you?"

"That's probably a good idea."

* * *

><p>Alex had been mildly surprised that the TARDIS could land inside buildings, which had tickled the Doctor, but she had to admit it was much easier to carry Brian to his bed from the med bay this way. She'd assumed they would have to concoct some elaborate plan that involved getting him through the window. She wasn't sure whether or not the boy's parents were home, so they left as soon as possible, lest one or both of them come to investigate the noise.<p>

When the ship next landed, Alex opened the doors to discover they were in front of her shop. Amazed at what the blue box could do, she let out a little snorting exhale, leaning against the doorframe, before taking a few steps outside.

Everything was just as she'd left it. The leaves and dust had been swept away from in front of the door, the lights lit up her untouched books inside, she could even see the blue glow of her monitor still running.

She whirled her head around to look at the Doctor, who was leaning where she had been just moments ago, watching her. "So…does no one on Earth know what happened except us?"

"Well," he said, drawing the word out a bit. "…Torchwood probably knows, but luckily the Limaxians left before they could do anything about it."

She had no idea what that meant, but sensed this wasn't the time to ask. "And…you said, uh, time and space right? Your ship does both?"

"Time and relative dimension in space, yep," he reminded her, popping the 'p' on the last word.

"So how long has it been since we left?"

"Oh…" he pretended to deliberate, making show of looking at the sun's position and checking a fake watch. "About five minutes."

"Wow…" she breathed. "But…But that _definitely_ took longer than five minutes. Are there past versions of us in your ship somewhere defeating them right now?"

"Well, no, not exactly. I mean, _yes._ But also no." He tugged on his ear. "It's all a bit…timey-wimey." He paused and looked off into the distance for a moment. "Hm. I like that. I should use that."

Alex could only shake her head at his antics.

"So back to running your shop, then?" he asked a minute later.

She was quiet for a long moment. "Yeah. I guess so."

He nodded. "Good then. That's…good." He chewed the inside of his cheek momentarily. "There _is_ another option, though, if you're interested that is." He ran a hand through his hair as he said this.

"Oh?" she asked. "What's that?"

He shrugged. "You could come with me."

Alex bit her lip, unsure. She had to admit, the thought of going back to her quiet little shop was…less appealing than it ever had been. Today had been the craziest, most insane day of her life, everything she thought she knew being upturned by one man with a blue box. "…Is this what you always do? Save planets from being taken over and stuff?"

"Well, it's not like I specifically go _looking_ for trouble," he assured her. "But…It does seem to happen a lot yeah." He paused and leveled a look at her. "Traveling with me is about adventure, not being a hero. I can't promise you'll always be safe…" he then grinned. "But it _will_ be fun."

She was quiet for another few seconds before releasing an exhale, her cheeks puffing out.

"I'm in."

* * *

><p>Alex had told the Doctor there were two things she needed to do before they took off for…who knew where. The first was another stop at Brian's right after the boy had woken and was due to head for his shift at the stop. The Doctor had insisted this particular stop was pointless – "I told you, it travels in <em>time<em>" – but she was firm on this.

She was a few steps away from the teenager's door when he came out himself, looking a bit disheveled, but no worse for the wear.

"Alex?" Brian said, looking confused. "Uh…what are you doing here?"

She took a breath. "I just wanted to tell you I'm going on vacation." The boy's eyebrows shot up. "I'll be gone for…I don't know, a few days, maybe a couple weeks. I'm leaving you in charge. You can hire someone else if you need extra help. There are resumes and stuff in the computer, you know where to look. Just don't hire any drug addicts or anything and we're cool."

Brian sputtered for a moment. "You – I – what – you _never_ take vacations!" he finally blurted.

Alex shrugged, a breathless sort of excitement making her nerves tingle. "Well, I am now! Thanks kid, you're a lifesaver." She then took off down the street, headed for the corner the TARDIS was 'parked' on. "See you later, Brian!"

The baffled teenager was left standing on his porch, wondering what on Earth had just happened.

* * *

><p>The second stop they made was to Alex's apartment. While the Doctor was not happy about this particular stop either, he conceded that it wasn't exactly something they could <em>not<em> do.

Alex dashed into her living room, grabbing her small bag of cat food and a bowl before heading for her bedroom. Shakespeare, her calico, was lounging on her pillow as he always seemed to, content to believe that the spot was his. She scooped him up quickly, making him mrrow a little in disapproval, and zipped back to the TARDIS, currently taking up the space of her kitchen.

Once inside, she released Shakespeare onto the floor, and after a quick sniff around the console, he leapt onto the jumpseat and perched himself happily on it, looking for all the world like he belonged there. Yes, he was going to be quite at home here on the ship.

The Doctor shook his head a little at the feline, apparently not a fan of cats, but said nothing about it.

"Well," he said to Alex, who just placed the cat food and bowl next to the console. "Now that that's settled, I guess we'll find you a room right quick and then…" he cut himself off with a little chuckle.

"What's so funny?" she asked, rounding the console to stand next to him.

He grinned sheepishly at her. "I'm about to travel across the universe with you, and I never asked your name."

That surprised a little snort out of her as well. She held out her hand for him to shake firmly. "Alexandra Harper. Call me Alex."

His grin still in place, he said "I'm the Doctor. Pleasure to meet you." He started off down the hallway that connected to the console room.

Alex rolled her eyes, making a grab for her cat's food and bowl. "Well yeah, you told me that, but what's your name? What do I call you?"

"Just the Doctor!" he called over his shoulder.

"What do you mean _just_ the Doctor?" she called back, deciding to firmly root herself to the spot until he told her his name. "It can't be _just_ the Doctor! Doctor _who?!"_

* * *

><p>AN: …C'mon, you had to see that coming.

Up next, we have an interlude chapter, followed by Alex's first adventure with the Doctor, where we learn a little more about the TARDIS and about Alex and her feline companion!

* Is it just me, or does this sentence sound completely ridiculous? -_- It sounded awesome in my head and then I wrote it…You guys have no idea how awkward I feel while writing D:

**Star Wars. C'mon, tell me you got that.

Special thanks to LuckyBuzzie and Maren the fangirl for your reviews! You are fantastic!

Happy reading! :)


	4. Bigger On the Inside

A/N: And our interlude chapter. I am trying to stay a couple of chapters ahead, but considering I am in college, there's a good chance that a couple of updates will be missed. Just warning you ahead of time! :)

Also, I'm very sorry I've been gone so long guys. My dad was in the hospital, and then I had tons of school work and there has been personal drama like nobody's business…But we'll be back to our regularly scheduled updates now.

* * *

><p>"Alright!" the Doctor said with a clap, rubbing his hands together afterwards. "Pick a door, any door!"<p>

They were currently in a hallway with four different white doors, all of which looked exactly the same to Alex. She had her cat's food bag tucked under one arm, the bowl held in the other. It had occurred to her belatedly that she didn't have a water bowl – she had a self-filling contraption in the apartment – and the Doctor had said it would be taken care of, but hadn't bothered to describe how.

Alex glanced around at each of the doors before turning back and asking "Are they all bedrooms?"

"Well, yes. And no. Mostly no." At her puzzled expression, the Doctor smiled and explained. "The TARDIS telepathically connects to anyone who walks inside. Just a small connection, enough to translate languages and populate a room with essential things if they decide to stay."

Alex's eyebrows rose. "Oh. Is there anyone else on the ship? I'd sort of assumed that you were -"

"I am. I'm alone," he interrupted, looking uncomfortable for a moment. "But I've traveled with people before."

"Oh, that makes sense," she replied with a small smile. She missed the surprised glance he gave her as she perused each of the doors. "So any one I pick will just…turn into a bedroom?"

"Yep," he said, popping the 'p.' That had happened enough that she was pretty sure he did so every time. "Well, sort of. That's a very humany way of explaining -" Alex's eyes had started to narrow. "Ah, yes. It will turn into a bedroom."

Alex gave a little sigh, but chose the door nearest to her on the left.

She'd halfway expected the room to be empty after all, or for furniture to suddenly start appearing, but to her surprise it was already filled. There was a fairly simple four-poster bed, though it looked quite comfy, with a spice brown comforter and crisp white sheets. On the right side of the room a decently sized dresser sat, made of lovely dark wood. It looked antique, another surprise to her. She was quite fond of antiques. Opposite the dresser, against the left wall, there was an equally charming desk, with little cubbyholes instead of drawers on the right side of it. A plush chair sat in front of it. She also noted another door to the side of the desk, which she assumed led to a restroom.

All in all, the room was cozy, fit her tastes well, but was obviously in need of being filled with some personal items. The only problem being that Alex didn't really have many personal items. Unless you counted Shakespeare. As if on cue, a little _mew_ was heard, and Alex turned to see her cat twining around the Doctor's ankles. He frowned and gently nudged the feline away, who moved unperturbed to Alex. After a quick rub against her shin, he went to explore the room.

"It's nice," Alex said, gazing fondly at the room. Her eyes widened slightly though when she suddenly noticed a small bowl next to the dresser, matching the one in her hand. She could swear that hadn't been there before.

"It is. I like your style," the Doctor replied, peering at the bedroom. Shakespeare turned his head and _mrrowed_ at him. The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Should've known you'd be a cat person," he muttered.

"Hey, Shakespeare is sweet," Alex defended.

"Yeah, yeah," he responded noncommittally. "Feed your _feline _and then we'll get going."

Alex's looked up at him curiously. "Where are we going?"

He grinned. "Anywhere." With that he took off at an easy pace down the hallway. "Hurry up now!"

When he had disappeared Alex took a moment to breathe, steadying herself. She was on a space ship. A time machine. Some weird – but kind of awesome – combination of the two. She kept half-expecting to wake up.

She thought on what the Doctor had told her though. She literally had all of time and space open to her now. She could literally go _anywhere_ in the entire universe. And she was standing her in front a bedroom holding cat food.

She hurriedly poured a small amount of food into one of the bowls, filled the other with water from the bathroom sink – which was _huge_ and she had to take another moment to marvel at – then dashed down the hallways, a grin tugging at her lips.

She felt like her life was finally beginning.

* * *

><p>AN: I know this isn't the most interesting of chapters, but the others will be important later, so I want to get used to doing them now. Hope you enjoyed!


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